I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 4

SODA:

"I can't believe you are coming with me, Lacy. Please don't come," I begged, desperate to meet the roommate alone so I could tell him to get lost.

"I know you better than you think," she said with crossed arms. "You will beat the guy senseless and stay alone for the rest of your life."

"What if I want to be alone for the rest of my life?" I shot back, pulling up to Lacy's apartment complex.

"No one wants to be alone, Soda. Some people think they do, but deep down they really just want people to care."

"Wow, you're such a wise person," I muttered. "Oh look, there's Fancy Lancy. Go bother him."

Lance was waiting for her next to a silver Nissan with a big grin on his face. Lacy looked like she might swoon or something, so I urged her to get out and go to him.

"Not so fast, Missy," she said, grabbing her back from the floorboard next to her feet. "I am still going to be at your place this afternoon to make sure this guy stays."

Before I could say anything in protest, she smiled and blew me a playful kiss. "Toodles love, see you later."

She got out and basically skipped over to Lance, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her gently, both smiling. For a brief moment, I was jealous of what they had together, but then again, I don't do relationships. There was no reason for me to crave a Lance in my life.

I sighed and pulled away, heading home again. I was definitely tired after a late night of work and little sleep, well no sleep, and then my morning college classes. A nap sounded pretty good to me.

My phone went off on the dashboard and I answered it without looking at the caller ID.

"Yep."

"Are you alone?"

I cringed at the deep, menacing voice and swallowed, fighting the urge to swerve off the road.

"Yes," I said in my best confident voice.

"Your client ended up in the hospital, Cryder. They're asking questions."

His voice was too calm. Way too calm.

"He wasn't cooperating," I muttered, tensing up my hold on the steering wheel.

"If they find something out, you're the first name on the list that goes down for it," he warned.

I gulped and struggled to keep the fear out of my voice. "They won't find anything out. Give me the names, I'll take care of it."

His laugh was cold and empty. "You can't fix this one, Cryder. Wait it out and stay low. Meanwhile, your drop off is at the pier. Be there in one hour."

"Yes sir."

The line clicked dead and I let out my breath. That man made me so nervous. I looked at the clock in my dashboard- 12:30. It would take me a little less than an hour to get to the pier. I turned up my radio and headed that direction.

•••••

I pulled up to the pier, parking a good ways from the drop off, and walked the rest of the way. I sat down on a broken wooden crate and looked down at the dirty water below. This would be the perfect place to hide a body. I groaned internally, hating my automatic thought patterns on such things. Then I began to sweat while wondering if this was a setup to dump me here.

I jumped out of my skin when I looked around for the tenth time and spotted a large man in a black suit coming toward me with a metal case in his left hand. He stopped two feet away, and I stood up, eyeing him. He wasn't here to kill me. It would take more than one man to kill me. He handed me the briefcase and stared at me intensely while I dug around in my back pocket and pulled out an envelope.

"The location and information are inside."

He nodded once and walked away, disappearing around a corner. I didn't dare relax until I was back in my car and pulling away. I had just handed over the deed to some stranger's house in exchange for this stupid briefcase. I hated myself for ruining people's lives, but it was me or them, and I was a survivor.

My phone buzzed and I picked it up. "Yep."

"You need to work on saying hello," said Lacy. I could just see her crossing her arms and huffing at me.

"What do you want?"

"You're late," she said in annoyance. "Your roommate and that Toby guy are standing outside your apartment with me, and you aren't here!"

"Shut up Lacy, I'm on my way."

I clicked the line dead and let out a breath though my nose, purposefully slowing down. I had no desire to meet this guy.

I arrived at my building forty-five minutes later and got into the elevator, pushing the three button and leaning against the wall. I stepped out a minute later and trudged to my apartment, Lacy and two guys sitting in the floor.

I chuckled at them as I walked closer. "Well hello there."

Lacy's head snapped up in my direction with a glare, standing up in the process. "Took you long enough. Where were you?"

I just shrugged and looked down at my phone as it went off. I didn't recognize the number, so I declined it and looked back at Lacy.

"Can we just go ahead and tell them to go away?"

She gave me a dirty look and turned to a good-sized boy with sandy blonde hair standing up behind her. "This is Toby."

I raised my brows at him when he stuck out a hand. "I don't shake with liars."

His ears turned red and he lowered his hand, but the second guy in the floor let out a laugh before getting up as well. I looked at him long and hard for a moment, realizing he was staring at me right back with a searching gaze that made me uncomfortable. Then I realized who he was and just doubled over laughing. One, he was a famous MMA fighter that I kept tabs on for my boss. Two...

"I hit you with my car!" I burst out, laughing like a maniac.

Lacy's hand went to her mouth to cover a gasp. "No way! He is! I can't believe I didn't recognize him."

The guy glared at both of us and crossed his arms while turning to Toby. "I'm so not staying here."

My ears perked up at the sound of his deep, somehow soothing voice and I met his eyes. He had green eyes and dark brown hair with a sharp jawline and long eyelashes. He had a good body and looked to be about six foot three. His eyes seemed to be taking me in too, but he just looked curious and confused as he gazed.

"Yes you are," Toby said firmly, shoving him toward me.

"Hey, if he doesn't want to stay, that is perfectly fine with me," I said to Lacy with a shrug.

She glared at me and then the guy I ran over. "You two are doing this whether you like it or not, got it?"

Toby stepped up too. "Keenon, you are staying here. We made a deal, and you will keep it."

Keenon scowled but didn't argue. Lacy gave me a warning look, so I sagged my shoulders in defeat and unlocked the door.

Keenon picked up his bags and walked in, brushing past my with a smirk on his face. Man, I already hated him.

"You two get along and be nice," Lacy said before closing the door behind us.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose before leaving the living room without a word to go hide my briefcase. I locked my bedroom door behind me before going over to my dresser and scooting it out of the way. I pried a board away from the wall and slid the case through it before putting it all back and standing up.

I could hear Keenon moving around the apartment before the door across the hall opened and shut, signaling he found his room. I flopped down on my bed and stuck in my headphones, drowning out everything.